B&h Photography Podcast

Is your Leica M7 worth more than what you paid for it? How about the value of that Brownie in your grandfather’s closet, or even your first digital camera from 1995? With Heritage Auctions preparing to host its first-ever auction of collectible cameras, we take time to talk camera and lens collecting with Nigel Russel, of Heritage, and Gabriel Biderman, of B&H Photo. Russel is a world-recognized camera expert and photo historian, and discusses the criteria that make a camera retain or increase in value, the possibility of finding a collectible camera at a garage sale, and the general ins and outs of a camera auction. We also chat about Ansel Adams’s 4 x 5 camera that is currently up for auction, as well as the “cult” of Leica and even about a camera from the 1860s that uses water between the lenses to create a panoramic view. A well-respected night photographer, Gabriel Biderman is also a camera collector whose first rule of collecting is to only acquire cameras with which he can actually take pictures. H